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November 16, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hilo Teachers School

The arrival of the first company of American missionaries in Hawai­ʻi in 1820 marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The missionaries were the teachers and the chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

Reverend David Belden Lyman and his wife, Sarah Joiner Lyman arrived in Hawai‘i in 1832, members of the fifth company of missionaries sent to the Islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

When the arrived in Hilo … “there were no foreign residents, save the Missionaries who proceeded us. There was but one frame building in this region, that built by Mr. [Joseph] Goodrich.”

“There were no roads, only footpaths, no fences and the Wailuku River was crossed on a plank … I might add that there were no trees except the breadfruit, which were abundant and flourishing. Coconut trees fringed the beach. The people were numerous and had a healthy look … very friendly.”

“A few schooners, owned by the chiefs, came here occasionally, not to bring blessings to the natives, but to levy contributions of tapa, nuts, dried fish, pigs, etc …” (Sarah Joiner Lyman; Lothian)

The missionaries soon saw that the future of the Congregational Mission in Hawaii would be largely dependent upon the success of its schools. 

The proliferation of schoolhouses was augmented by the printing of 140,000 copies of the pī­ʻāpā (elementary Hawaiian spelling book) by 1829 and the staffing of the schools with 1,000-plus Hawaiian teachers.  (Laimana)

In 1830 “Mr. [Lorrin] Andrews left Lahaina to go to the aid of the Hilo Station and he started a school for the improvement of the teachers.” (Lothian)

In 1831, Lahainaluna Seminary, was created in Maui to be a school for teachers and preachers so that they could teach on the islands. The Mission then established “feeder schools” that would transmit to their students’ fundamental reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, and religious training, before admission to the Lahainaluna.

By 1831, in just eleven years from the first arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiians had built 1,103 schoolhouses. This covered every district throughout the eight major islands and serviced an estimated 52,882 students.  (Laimana)

In 1832, “The school system was admirable for the times; there being school buildings through the two districts at convenient distances for all to attend, and they did pretty generally attend. And all whose eyes were not dim with age learned to read.”

“Each school had two sets of teachers, and whilst one was teaching, the other was here attending the teachers school, which was taught by the missionaries.” (Sarah Joiner Lyman; Lothian)

On January 6, 1835, “our children’s (Station) school commenced, eighty children present, sixty knew their letters. A number of the more forward (ie. advanced) children are employed as monitors to assist the less forward.”

In 1836, “For several years the forming of a boy’s boarding school had been discussed at the Annual Meetings and while they were all in favor of said venture they were not sure of its success; no one had offered to start a school.”

“At the 1836 meeting it was decided that the school should be in Hilo ….. ‘leaving it for the brothern to decide as to who should develop the much desired thing. The great object in view was to train more intelligent teachers for the common schools. So we were given carte blanche for the Island of Hawaii.’” (Sarah Joiner Lyman Journal; Lothian)

“Mr. Abner Wilcox, who had arrived with the recent Company that spring [1836], was assigned to Hilo to take charge of the teachers school and the educational department of the boarding school [Hilo Boarding School].”

In October 1836, two thatch houses were constructed near Lyman’s house and on October 3 the school opened with eight boarders, but the number soon increased to twelve.

The school was operated to an extent on a manual labor program and the boys cultivated the land to produce their own food. (The boys’ ages ranged from seven to fourteen.)

“Mr. Lyman who was brought up on a farm had an abiding faith in the value of manual labor; and his work in Hilo had convinced him that such activity in both primitive and introduced vocation was as necessary as book learning during the period of transition from one culture to another.”  (Lothian)

Hilo Boarding School, under the leadership of the Lymans, was an immediate success. In 1837, six graduates were sent to Lahainaluna Seminary.

At first, greater emphasis was placed upon producing teachers and preachers than upon molding farmers or craftsmen.  However, with the loss of Lahainaluna to the government, the Hilo school became reoriented to stress vocational training.

Hilo Boarding School was never a purely vocational institution, however, its founder’s focus of educating the head, heart and hand carried throughout its history (rigorous academic drills (Head), religious/moral (Heart) and manual/vocational (Hand) training).

In 1839, the old thatch buildings were torn down and Lyman purchased the entire first shipment of lumber to arrive in Hilo to build a new school building, as well as a cookhouse and infirmary which would accommodate sixty to seventy boys.

The new school building lodged fifty-five pupils in its first year, most of them coming from outside Hilo.  In 1840, sugar cultivation commenced on adjacent mission land, and was worked entirely by the boys of the school along with a “monthly concert” of labor by all members of the parish. The cane was probably ground in a Chinese-owned mill in Hilo.

Lahainaluna was transferred from being operated by the American missionaries to the control of the Hawaiian Monarchy in 1849.  (By 1864, only Lahainaluna graduates were considered qualified to hold government positions such as lawyers, teachers, district magistrates and other important posts.)

“The fact that Lahainaluna became a Government and the public schools starting high schools started the Hilo Boarding school moving into a new era. The Boarding School began as an academic institution whose purpose was to teach boys and young men and prepare them so they could attend Lahainaluna School and … come out as teachers and ministers”. (Lothian)

More than one-third of the boys who had attended Hilo Boarding School eventually became teachers in the common schools of the kingdom. In 1850 the Minister of Public Instruction, Richard Armstrong, reported that Hilo Boys School “is one of our most important schools. It is the very life and soul of our common school on that large island.”

Common schools (where the 3 Rs were taught) sprang up in villages all over the islands.  In these common schools, classes and attendance were quite irregular, but nevertheless basic reading and writing skills (in Hawaiian) and fundamental Christian doctrine were taught to large numbers of people.  (Canevali)

The Hilo Boarding School closed in 1925, although its facilities were used for several years thereafter.  It first became a community center.

Then, in 1947, it was the first home of the Hilo Branch of the University of Hawaiʻi a center of the University Extension Division.  UH programs expanded there with a permanent summer school in 1948 – then, in 1949, the institution changed its name to University of Hawaiʻi, Hilo center (which later moved to its present site on Lanikāula Street, in 1955.)

All of the Hilo Boarding School buildings are gone; in 1980 the Hilo Center affiliated with the Boy’s Clubs of America – Hilo Boys and Girls Club now occupies the site.

© 2025 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Schools Tagged With: David Lyman, Lorrin Andrews, Hilo Boarding School, Abner Wilcox, Hilo Teachers School, Hawaii, Hilo, Lahainaluna

November 15, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago … Gerrymandering

It seems we have been pronouncing Gerrymandering incorrectly.  More often than not, we pronounce it with a soft “g” (as in sounding like Jerry); we should be pronouncing it with a hard “g” (as in Gary).

The word was a concoction from 1812, and the namesake for the word – Declaration of Independence signer Elbridge Gerry – pronounced his name with a hard “g” – his name sounds like ‘Gary’.

“Acting on the request of a former Marblehead schoolteacher, the town’s board of selectmen sent a letter to [US Supreme Court] Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr [in 2018] asking the justices to use the hard “g” pronunciation”. (ABA Journal)

Elbridge Thomas Gerry [1837-1927], grandson of Founder Elbridge Gerry, was a prominent and influential Gilded Age New York trial lawyer, philanthropist and bibliophile whose library became the foundation of the United States Supreme Court Library. (Shelley Dowling)

US Supreme Court staff, “assured the selectmen that ‘not only do we tend carefully to our Gerry collection, but we pronounce it with a hard “g”.

In a follow-up statement to the Boston Globe, a public information officer said there is ‘a solid consensus’ on the pronunciation of Gerry, but the pronunciation of gerrymandering “remains ‘sub judice.’”

Here is Elbridge Gerry explaining a little about himself: https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Gerry-Elbridge-MA-White-House-Founders-Museum.mp4

The legend of the gerrymander came into being in 1812 at a meeting of Federalist political leaders and newspapermen in Boston.

Gerrymandering was coined from a political cartoon published in 1812. The cartoon bashed Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry for signing a bill that redrew state senate districts to disadvantage Federalists. (ABA Journal)

“The term for the political tactic of manipulating boundaries of electoral districts for unfair political advantage derives its name from a prominent 19th-century political figure — and from a mythological salamander. The term, originally written as “Gerry-mander,” first was used on March 26, 1812, in the Boston Gazette.”

“Though the redistricting was done at the behest of his Democratic-Republican Party, it was [Massachusetts’s Governor] Gerry who signed the bill in 1812. As a result, he received the dubious honor of attribution, along with its negative connotations. Gerry, in fact, found the proposal “highly disagreeable.’”

“He lost the next election, but the redistricting was a success: His party retained control of the legislature. One of the remapped, contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a mythological salamander.” (LOC)

Complaints about the efforts of their Jeffersonian Republican opponents to rig state elections by altering voting districts led artist Elkanah Tisdale to add a head and wings to an outlined map of a new senatorial district in Essex County and name it the “gerrymander” after the leader of the Jeffersonians, Governor Elbridge Gerry.

The cartoon shocked the public and proved very effective. (Massachusetts Historical Society)

Elbridge Gerry was a merchant, politician, and diplomat who served as the fifth vice president of the United States. Born on July 17, 1744, in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Gerry came from a family of successful merchants. He graduated from Harvard College and worked closely with Samuel Adams.

After a brief time in commerce, he entered public service as a member of the Massachusetts Legislature and General Court. In 1775, Gerry was elected to the Second Continental Congress, where he signed the Declaration of Independence, and continued to serve until 1780.

In response to Shays’ Rebellion, Gerry was selected to attend the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He chaired the committee that helped forge the Great Compromise, which created a bicameral legislature with popular representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and equal representation for each state in the Senate.

Concerned about centralized power, Gerry – along with Edmund Randolph and George Mason – refused to sign the Constitution without a Bill of Rights. After ratification, he served two terms in Congress, retiring in 1793.

He later served as Governor of Massachusetts beginning in 1810, where the state legislature’s redistricting decisions led to the term “gerrymandering.” In 1813, he became vice president under James Madison, serving until his death in 1814 at age 70. (Founders Museum)

Elbridge Gerry left us a message … “It is the duty of every man, though he may have but one day to live, to devote that day to the good of his country.”

With respect to the legality of politically-based gerrymandering, the US Supreme Court concluded, “Excessive partisanship in districting leads to results that reasonably seem unjust.”

“But the fact that such gerrymandering is ‘incompatible with democratic principles,’ … does not mean that the solution lies with the federal judiciary.  We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.”

“Federal judges have no license to reallocate political power between the two major political parties, with no plausible grant of authority in the Constitution, and no legal standards to limit and direct their decisions.”

“‘[J]udicial action must be governed by standard, by rule,’ and must be ‘principled, rational, and based upon reasoned distinctions’ found in the Constitution or laws. … Judicial review of partisan gerrymandering does not meet those basic requirements. …”

“No one can accuse this Court of having a crabbed view of the reach of its competence.  But we have no commission to allocate political power and influence in the absence of a constitutional directive or legal standards to guide us in the exercise of such authority.”

“‘It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.’ …  In this rare circumstance, that means our duty is to say ‘this is not law.’”

“The judgments of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina and the United States District Court for the District of Maryland are vacated, and the cases are remanded with instructions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.”  (Decision of the US Supreme Court, Rucho et al. v. Common Cause et al.)

© 2025 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: American Revolution Tagged With: America250, Gerrymandering, Gerrymander, Elbridge Gerry

November 14, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Donna

“Honolulu is to have a new family hotel – ‘The Donna’ – at Beretania and Piikoi streets. The four cottages owned by Col CJ McCarthy are to be made into a hotel, having about thirty rooms, and the opening will take place next month. Mrs CJ McCarthy will manage the enterprise.”

“During recent months there have been many visitors unable to get the sort of accommodations they wanted. Several of the local hostelries have had the experience recently of turning away applicants for room and board, and visitors have had difficulty in finding places at all suited to them.”

“The McCarthy cottages are located in a fine residence district and have attractive grounds.” (Hawaiian Star, Feb 17, 1910)  “It was run by the McCarthy family and Mr. [Charles J] McCarthy at one time was governor of Hawai’i. [1918-1921] Mr. and Mrs. McCarthy ran this hotel.” (Nell Kahululani Conant Porter, Watumull Oral History)

Charles James McCarthy “was born in Boston, August 4, 1861, and came to San Francisco with [his] parents in 1866. [He] was educated in the grammar schools of that city also attended the Pacific Business College. [He came] to Hawaii in March, 1881, as an employee of a wholesale fruit house, which shipped tropical fruits to San Francisco .”

In 1889 he married Margaret Teresa Morgan. “Mrs. McCarthy was born in Honolulu on October 30, 1865, the daughter of Robert Dalton Morgan and Catherine Ward Morgan. Both her parents were born in Dublin, Ireland, and had lived in New York City before coming to Hawaii. Her father came to the islands three years before his wife and family followed”.

“A native of Honolulu, Mrs. McCarthy was intensely interested in the islands and beloved by the Hawaiian people of whom she was a true and understanding friend. She spoke Hawaiian fluently and did much in the interests of these people.”

“As a member and for several years an officer of the Outdoor Circle se took a leading part in the organization’s work to preserve the natural charm of the islands. She was also a member of the Sons and Daughters of Warriors, the Daughters of Hawaii and the Guild of Francis Hospital.”  (Hnl Adv, March 19, 1934)

After several elected public service positions, CJ McCarthy “was appointed Governor of Hawaii on April 18, 1918, for a term of four years. On March 4th, 1921 , [he] tendered [his] resignation to President Harding to take effect June 1st, [1921, because he had] been appointed by the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce to represent them in Washington, DC.”  (Charles J McCarthy Autobiographical Sketch, American Irish Historical Society)

“Mrs. McCarthy’s life was a busy one.  In addition to the task of rearing her family of five daughters and seconding her husband’s public activities, she successfully established and maintained the Donna Hotel on Beretania street and also managed other apartment holdings at Waikiki.” (Hnl Adv, March 19, 1934)

[T]here was a large house, two or three stories high, and it was the home of Governor [Charles J] McCarthy. He was governor here [June 22, 1918 to 1921.] And his wife had the hotel and it was her private project.”

“He had nothing to do with it and she wanted it understood that it was hers and she ran it and they had the best food in the city that you could buy, you know, at a restaurant and she did catering for big parties if the people wanted to pay for really nice food, nice catering. And the rooms weren’t so good.”

“She owned, I think, three buildings – could have been only two – there on Beretania and they owned the land right straight through to the street behind it, Kinau.”

“Their big house was where Schuman Carriage Company is and then these smaller houses, where they had roomers, were Waikiki side. And then they had the dining room–main dining room. That was the style of practically all the hotels here then.” (Margaret Way, Watumull Oral History)

It was originally advertised as “Home-Like in its surroundings and comforts and with all the conveniences and ease of the most approved hotel” “The Donna The new Apartment Hotel” at “1262-70-76-86 Beretania Avenue” ((PCA, Jun 1, 1910)

“The Donna Hotel, 1286 S. Beretania, is delightfully situated within ten minutes’ ride from the center of Honolulu. Here, amidst the surroundings of a subtropical park, one may enjoy all the comforts of home.”

“The rooms in the main buildings or in one of the attractive screened cottages are cheery, well-furnished, and have hot and cold running water. The delicious home cooked meals are served at little cozy tables which are grouped about an artistically decorated open lanai. Permanent rates are $65 a month or $3.00 a day and up.” (Mid-Pacific Magazine, Feb 1928)

“Although located amidst quiet and restful surroundings, The Donna is only a few minutes’ walk from the business portion of the city. Electric cars, which transfer to all parts of the city and the beach, have a station in front of the house.  The Donna has many unique and pleasing features that will irresistably appeal to visitors to Honolulu.” (The Courtland Guide, Jan 1917)

“C. & M. McCarthy, Ltd., was a corporation organized under the laws of the Territory of Hawaii. In 1944 it owned (and presumably operated) in Honolulu the Donna Hotel and the Waikiki Apartments.” The company was dissolved on February 15, 1945.  (US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, Oct 10, 1957, 248 F.2d 765)

The hotel operation and apartment rentals “was her business. She may have had it before he was governor and she kept it quite a long time afterward too.” (Margaret Way, Watumull Oral History) The Donna Hotel was situated on property now occupied by Times Super Market. (Yardley, Hnl Adv, Apr 10, 1985)

“The home and the hotel properties ran back to Kinau Street, but a high wooden fence separated the rear part of the hotel grounds. Behind the fence were the staff quarters, known as Japanese Camp.”

“It was a community unto itself with its own stores and baths. The waiters, maids, dish washers, cook, yard men and laundresses all lived there and to and from work through a door in the fence.”

“The hotel building on the on the Kaimuki end consisted of rooms upstairs and the office, parlor, public rooms and a dining room on the lanai of the first floor. An inviting lanai with rockers ran the length pf the front of the building.”

“The rooms were simple, clean and always cool. Floors were covered with sturdy lauhala mats, the dining tables covered with white linen cloths (with linen napkins tucked in the guest’s own napkin ring), and the quest rooms had comfortable iron and brass bedsteads covered with heavy white counterpanes.”

“Mrs McCarthy was a fabulous Island cook and her recipes and menus were referred to as the Kitchen Bible. … Unfortunately, the era of boarding houses in lovely residential districts is a thing of the past, but how nice it would be to have them revived.” (Yardley, Hnl Adv, Apr 10, 1985)

An interesting aside … “Governor McCarthy was the fifth territorial governor but the first to live at Washington Place. In 1918, he leased Washington Place privately. In 1921, the Territorial government purchased Washington Place from the Liliʻuokalani Estate.” (Washington Place)

© 2025 Ho‘okuleana LLC

Filed Under: General, Buildings, Prominent People, Economy Tagged With: The Donna, Hawaii, Oahu, Charles James McCarthy, Donna Hotel, Margaret McCarthy

November 13, 2025 by Peter T Young 9 Comments

How Did The Aliʻi Feel About non-Hawaiians?

The historical record is clear – from Kamehameha I to Liliʻuokalani, the aliʻi befriended, sought counsel, and even married Caucasians and other foreigners. As examples:

Foreigners supported Kamehameha I, including John Young, Isaac Davis, Don Francisco de Paula Marin, George Beckley and Alexander Adams (and others.)

One can only speculate what might have happened had these foreigners not aligned with Kamehameha. However, it is clear, with their help, he became Kamehameha the Great. Without these and other foreigners, Hawaiʻi’s history may have been significantly different.

Kamehameha III chose American missionaries Amos Starr Cooke and Gerrit Parmele Judd to serve as teacher and physician for the children of the seven families who were eligible under succession laws stated in the 1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i.

In a letter requesting Cooke to teach and Judd to care for the children, King Kamehameha III wrote, “Greetings to you all, Teachers – Where are you, all you teachers? We ask Mr. Cooke to be teacher for our royal children. He is the teacher of our royal children and Dr. Judd is the one to take care of the royal children because we two hold Dr Judd as necessary for the children and also in certain difficulties between us and you all.”

Kamehameha III called on seven boys and seven girls to board in the Chief’s Children’s School. No school in Hawai‘i has ever produced so many Hawaiian leaders in one generation.

In this school were educated the Hawai‘i sovereigns who reigned over the Hawaiian people from 1855, namely, Alexander Liholiho (King Kamehameha IV,) Queen Emma, Lot Kamehameha (King Kamehameha V,) King William Lunalilo, King David Kalākaua and Queen Lydia Lili‘uokalani.

In addition, the following royal family members were taught there: Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Princess Elizabeth Kekaaniau Pratt, Prince Moses Kekuaiwa, Princess Jane Loeau Jasper, Princess Victoria Kamāmalu, Prince Peter Young Kaeo, Prince William Pitt Kīnaʻu, Princess Abigail Maheha, Prince James Kaliokalani and Princess Mary Polly Paʻaʻāina.

The last of the Kamehameha’s, Kamehameha V, had a Caucasian (John Owen Dominis) as a secretary and advisor. “On the accession to the throne of Prince Lot as Kamehameha V., the last of the Hawaiian monarchs to bear that name, my husband (John Owen Dominis) was at once appointed his private secretary and confidential adviser, which position he occupied during the entire reign.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“The king was surrounded by his own people, with whom he was in perfect accord, but showed this mark of royal favor to my husband simply because he preferred to advise with him on matters of public importance.” (Liliʻuokalani)

Hawaiʻi’s last queen, Queen Liliʻuokalani, was married to a Caucasian, John Owen Dominis. This shows her acceptance of being a lifelong partner with a non-kanaka maoli – of the marriage she noted, “My husband was extremely kind and considerate to me”.

Dominis died before the overthrow – related to that, Queen Liliʻuokalani noted, “His death occurred at a time when his long experience in public life, his amiable qualities, and his universal popularity, would have made him an adviser to me for whom no substitute could possibly be found.”

“I have often said that it pleased the Almighty Ruler of nations to take him away from me at precisely the time when I felt that I most needed his counsel and companionship.” (Liliʻuokalani)

Kalākaua and Liliʻuokalani’s sister, Miriam Likelike, was also married to a Caucasian, Archibald Scott Cleghorn. The Cleghorns had one child Kaʻiulani – “the only member of the Royal Family having issue.”

Princess Kaʻiulani was not the only royal who was part-Caucasian – Emma, a future queen, was born to Fanny Kekelaokalani Young, daughter of John Young, King Kamehameha I’s Caucasian counselor, and Kaʻoanaʻeha, Kamehameha’s niece. Her father was high chief George Naea.

As was the custom, Emma was offered to her mother’s sister, Grace Kamaikui Rooke (the second daughter of John Young) and her husband, Dr Thomas Charles Byde Rooke (a Caucasian) as hānai daughter. Unable to have children of their own, the Rookes adopted Emma. Queen Emma was part Caucasian and she was raised by Caucasians.

We can’t forget that Princess Bernice Pauahi was also married to a Caucasian (Charles Reed Bishop.)

Following contact, Caucasians were actively involved with all of the aliʻi – they were befriended and served as personal and significant advisors to the aliʻi. Aliʻi sought their advice and put them in places of importance – many of these were missionaries.

Back then, there was an obvious tolerance by the Hawaiian leadership in engaging and including Caucasians (and other foreigners) in various matters.

A lot of non-kanaka maoli were born in the Islands or became naturalized citizens, or are descendants of such. By laws and practice, they, too, are Hawaiian citizens … history and the laws related to Hawaiian citizen status are clear and unambiguous.

(The image shows the letter Kamehameha III sent to the American (Caucasian) missionaries, asking Cooke and Judd to teach and serve the children of the aliʻi (including all of the subsequent Kings and Queens of the Hawaiian kingdom.))

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Filed Under: Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance Tagged With: Kamehameha, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Alii, Charles Reed Bishop, Liliuokalani, Kalakaua, Queen Emma, Likelike, Sovereignty, John Young, Kaiulani, Cleghorn, Hawaii

November 12, 2025 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Pohaku O Lanai

“It is different in character from the rocks that line the coast, and unlike anything for miles around.”

Hawaiians know it as ‘pohaku lanai,’ and is said by them to have floated ashore ‘from Kahiki,’ (Tahiti.) It is a balancing rock on a somewhat broader base, of limestone formation, with projecting top so as to afford material shelter in its shelving structure. (Thrum)

This is said to have been used as a lookout by fishermen in the region. When fish were sighted, the stone was beaten with a wooden mallet, and the resulting hollow sound was sufficient to gather together the fishermen of the village.” (McAllister; Ulukau)

On a trip around Oʻahu, Tyerman and Bennet (1832) noted, “Continuing our circuminsular tour we crossed a spacious plain, on the coast, of which the base was coral, and the soil a thin layer of vegetable mould.”

“On this level stands a mound, which might be taken for an artificial monument, consisting of two prodigious masses of coral-rock, the lower about six feet above the surface of the ground, but evidently imbedded in the stratum below;”

“… the upper, laid flat upon this, and overspreading it on every side, measured ninety-three feet in compass, and eight, at least, in the thickest part, the shape being conical.”

“The whole pile reached nearly five yards in height, and, when we consider that the substance must have been wrought under water, it is almost a necessary conclusion that the sea has considerably retired from this coast – from twenty-five to thirty feet in depth …”

“… or been repelled by some of the volcanic convulsions, which probably heaved the island itself from the bottom of the abyss, at a far distant period in the agency of that Providence of which the records are only preserved in the Eternal Mind.”

“There is no other rock of the same kind within several miles of this irregular formation. It was recently a marae (heiau,) to which the kings and chiefs repaired to consult Tani (Kane,) who was worshipped at it, on questions of peace and war, and to pray that in battle their bodies might be rendered invulnerable to the spears of their enemies.” (Tyerman and Bennet, 1832)

Pohaku Lanai is a large balancing stone on Kalaeoiupaoa Point. A large oval-shaped stone 18 feet across is balanced on a smaller base, standing about 10 feet high in all. (Ulukau) It’s also referred to as Lana-ike-Kane (Fisherman’s Stone.)

“One of the lions of the village affording some study is a stone of peculiar formation, in which the natives of the district maintain not a little traditional interest.”

“It is located near the seashore, not far distant from the railroad station, but of late entirely hidden from sight among the tangle-growth of lantana and kolu bushes.”

“(W)hether this shape is the natural result of the erosion of ages, or of surf wearing, of which this may be evidence of a difference in shore line and elevation at some remote period, or the result of man’s rude chizeling for a resting place, are questions of interest for the geologist, for it stands alone”. (Thrum)

An 1890 map notes “Two Rocks called Pohakulanai” located in the Land of Ulupehupehu (in what would be the present Turtle Bay Resort.) (McAllister did not document the two rocks in Kahuku in his 1930s inventory.)

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Hawaiian Traditions, Place Names Tagged With: Hawaii, Oahu, Waialua, North Shore, Pohaku O Lanai

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Hoʻokuleana LLC is a Planning and Consulting firm assisting property owners with Land Use Planning efforts, including Environmental Review, Entitlement Process, Permitting, Community Outreach, etc. We are uniquely positioned to assist you in a variety of needs.

Info@Hookuleana.com

Copyright © 2012-2024 Peter T Young, Hoʻokuleana LLC

 

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